AIM: To investigate the expression of pathological factors of VEGF-C and its receptor FLT-4 in primary gastric cancer METHODS: The expression Of VEGF-C and FLT-4 was studied in 80 primary gastric cancers and adjacent normal tissues from the same patients by semi-quantitative reveese transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immumohistochemistry.RESULTS: Both primary gastric cancer and adjacent normal tissue could express VEGF-C and FLT-4, and FLT-4 expression was also detected in endothelial cells of stromal blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. There was a significant difference in expression of VEGF-C between primary tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples (p=0.01), and a statistical correlation between VEGF-C and FLT-4 expression in tumors (p=0.00886). With regard to VEGF-C expression,there was a significant difference between moderate-poor differential type and high differential type (p=0.032), and a significant difference between pesitive and negative lymph node metastases (p=0.024). However, there was no significant difference between pesitive and negative serosal CONCLUSION: VEGF-C and ite receptor FLT-4 play a role in the development of gastric cancer, and the tumors with expression of VEGF-C and FLT-4 are more likely to have lymph node metastasis.